Filling the (Kitchen) Cabinet

A husband and wife formalize their division of labor

- Emily Goodman

MY HUSBAND IS the secretary of defense-not of our country, but of our household.

His name is Aaron Simone, and he has always been protective, my safety monitor, as I used to call him. But I promoted him to SecDef after a shameful incident in which I called him late one night while he was away on a fishing trip. I knew he was waking up early the next day to rendezvous with the fish, but I was desperate to talk to him: I was convinced there was an intruder lurking in our apartment because I kept hearing strange noises outside our bedroom door. The real culprit was the ice maker in our refrigerator, something Aaron guessed a minute into our phone call. But he stayed on the line with me for hours, calming me down and advising me on how to barricade the bedroom door.